by Phil » Fri Jan 22, 2016 3:47 pm
Avoiding snow in May at any of the higher elevations isn't going to happen, and most of the high country is well above 8000-9000 feet. You'll also be incredibly limited in your available trails- Tioga Rd, and maybe even Glacier Point Rd, may or may not even be plowed and open yet, thereby preventing you from easily getting to the majority of the trails that those roads give you reliable access to. There's also a chance that the cables might not be installed yet on Half Dome, so no access to the summit there either. All the trails available to you will have to originate in Yosemite Valley, or maybe around Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, although your mileage is going to be severely curtailed beyond either as the elevation rises fairly quickly from there and you'll be in snowpack within not too many miles of the trailhead. So yeah, if you want to see all the beauty of Yosemite, without the willingness to do some winter travel and all that goes along with it, you're going to miss out due to access issues. You might be able to climb the Falls Trail and explore the North Rim of the Valley, but that 10-12 miles per day is going to let you cover it in no more than a couple/few days, at most. We've got a lot of snowpack for a change this year, so planning reliably is going to be tough.
Obviously, the higher up you go,, the less trees as you get into the subalpine/alpine zone around 9500-10000+ feet (and there's plenty of that). It also depends on the ecology, the terrain, and the aspect, so if you need your hammock you're probably going to have to take whatever you can get as far as good campsites are concerned, or accept that you're going to have to sleep on the ground some nights. That high up, you might also want to seriously consider a tent or netting to keep the mosquitoes off you, especially if the snow line has only recently receded.
However, if you can wait an extra month, tolerate mosquitoes and at least some snow, some bad weather, and sometimes lousy trail conditions, then you're seeing much more of the park with more certainty. If it's a big trip for you, the delay will be well worth it. We'll all be waiting until around April to plan anything with much chance of being right.